Not Accepting Haaland Called League 3 Player, Guardiola Serang Roy Keane

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has been criticized for failing to score in the match against Arsenal. (X/@ManCity)

JAKARTA - Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola does not accept his flagship striker, Erling Haaland, is called the League 3 striker or League Two. Guardiola also criticized the analysis of the committee or football observer Roy Keane.

Guardiola is still not used to it when the Man City team or players receive criticism from the football committee. He once returned to criticize football committees such as Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher who easily gave criticism reviews of any team.

Even Guardiola questioned Neville's trophy. Despite achieving great success when he was a MU player, Neville was not successful when he became a coach/manager. However, Neville's trophy as a player was more than Guardiola himself.

Now, Guardiola is changing to attack Keane, Neville's former colleague at MU. Because of this, Keane said Haaland was nothing more than a League Two player.

Keane criticized Haaland, who died of ticks and could do nothing against Arsenal's strong defense in a Premier League duel in Etihad last weekend.

According to him, the striker's movement, which has scored 81 goals since playing in Man City and grabbed treble last season, is like a player who competed in League Two or the same as League 3.

The match itself ended in a 0-0 draw which kept Man City in third place with 64.

Meanwhile, Liverpool won the top spot in the standings after a 2-1 win over Brighton and Hove Albion. They pocketed 67 points and two points ahead of Arsenal who fell to second place. Receiving sharp criticism from a football pandit, Guardiola also protected his players. He, in fact, praised Haaland as the best striker in the world.

In a counter satire, the former Barcelona coach stated, "I will not criticize my colleagues when I retire."

Asked about Keane's ridicule, Guardiola replied, "I don't agree with him [Keane]. Or maybe he's indeed a team manager in the second or third League. I certainly don't think so."

He continued, "Erling is clearly the best striker in the world. He helped us win what we achieved last season."

Guardiola also did not expect to work as a commentator or football committee when he did not handle a team.

According to him, the former player who is now a football pandit has often criticized players rather than making match analysis.

Guardiola considered it clearly unfair. Moreover, the former player actually faced the same situation when he was still actively playing on the field.

"I was surprised because the criticism came from a former player. It was like they only played a role as referees when they retired. They always criticized the referee," he said.

"They seem to have forgotten. Even though they have faced a situation like what the current players are experiencing. They are also actually disappointed when they receive criticism from former players," said Guardiola again.

Haaland actually showed his sharpness in the Premier League. Last season, he scored 52 goals in various competitions in his Premier League debut.

The sharpness of the former Borussia Dortmund striker has not decreased this season by scoring 29 goals. According to Guardiola, his players still showed outstanding performances even though they did not score against Arsenal.

"We played well, if I gave a review. If we can't score, it's not because of Erling. He still played well in that match," said Guardiola, who previously handled Bayern Munich.

Man City will play home match against Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium, Thursday, April 4, 224 in the morning WIB.

If they win against Villa and Arsenal fail to score points when they host Luton Town, then Man City will rise to second place.